The network card has long become the same necessary component of a modern computer, like a mouse or sound card. If earlier only a few lucky ones could afford to purchase these components, now without them we cannot talk about a full-fledged computing and multimedia system .
Before we look at what a network card is, let's take a short mental journey back to the distant 90s. One of the most popular ways of exchanging information between computers was floppy disks (Internet tariffs were high, and the Dial-Up modem connected to the COM port worked at low speeds). However, increasing the size of the transferred data required not one, but several diskettes. If we recall their susceptibility to the appearance of unreadable sectors, it becomes clear that this method needed to be improved. It was clear that a mechanism was needed to allow computers to be connected simply and quickly, and it was proposed. Note that the solution was long known, but was not massive.- , , . Dial-Up . – 50 «» «» Ethernet. - . «» – , , - – .
Now much has changed: the coaxial cable has been replaced by twisted pair, the plugs have been canceled, the influence of resistance is reduced, which allows you to restore the breaks with a simple twist. The transmission protocol has been seriously improved - a full-duplex mode has been introduced (simultaneous reception / transmission of several network cards at once), and high speeds have become familiar. Now many providers provide access to the Internet through a similar solution, rather than a modem. By the way, by the appearance of the cable connector, you can determine its type: round is coaxial, and rectangular (almost like a telephone) is twisted pair., - , (, ). , , .
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Although all modern models allow developing a data transfer rate of 1 Gbit, 100 Mbit / s is still more in demand, since in this case the cable requirements are lower.
A prerequisite for the network interface to work is the driver installed in the system. It must be downloaded from the developer's site and installed. After that, the device “sees” the computer and you can interact with it.